When you get a car wash for your car, its all shiny and bright (hopefully) on the outside. But….the real “guts” of the car …the engine and all its components …are under the hood….and…we can’t see how that looks or is doing. Same in sports…we see the outside (the games) but really don’t see what’s under the hood…..let’s take a look under the hood.
….the 1st place Cardinals, despite our objections, really have reached the top of the standing on their batting! It looks all nice & shiny on the outside! But….Arguably the best 4 teams in the MLB (Houston, Minn, NYY, LA Dodgers) do something that the Cards don’t possess. StL has more strikeouts as a team than HITS! Those top FOUR teams have more HITS than strikeouts. The Cards have 1248 Strikeouts while having 1223 hits in 2018. These really good teams have more HITS than strikeouts…. Houston (perhaps the best MLB team) has 1431 hits and just 1081 strikeouts; Minnesota has a 1413-hits to 1237-strikouts look; under their hood, the NYY are 1403 to 1309. Oh yeah…some of you say…only AL teams with DH’s can do that…and that is a valid point but….sorry.. the Dodgers are 1307 hits and 1237 hits. Further, some of the key Cardinals compound this issue of NO batted ball put in play…Paul Goldschmidt 149 K’s, 142 hits; Paul DeJong 139 K’s to 133 hits; Dexter Fowler holds 118 K’s to 109 hits; Matt Carpenter’s numbers are alarming– 116 K’s to 85 hits!! Harrison Bader has 96 whiffs and 64 hits. Other less significant contributors like Tyler O’Neill, Matt Wieters, Jedd Gyorko have similar numbers with respect to more K’s than hits.
….for years, I’ve admired Coach K of Duke. I was under the impression that the Duke’s car always looked so shiny to me and was clean on the inside also….well…maybe not so much…..the entire collegiate basketball world was shaken by the shoe deals of the shoe companies paying extremely talented high school players to go to a particular school and wear their shoe. Duke’s name came up but direct hits were taken on the outside of the car. Now….after the State of California wants to pass a bill to pay the athletes, Gilbert Arenas , who played 11 NBA seasons comes out and says, that play players are already getting paid! Further, he says he that knows of two players in the last five years who were paid $200,000 to attend Duke rather than Kentucky. My suggestion of 2 years ago still stands…..forget about the student aspect of college basketball….pay the players like entertainers…like you would a band that comes into the university to entertain them. Set a tight team limit on team overall spending…let’s stop playing the “pretend” game that these basketball jocks are really students. Further, these basketball entertainers would not have to be fed, housed, tutored, or even doctored by the university. They would be independent contractors. It’d really be less expensive to just pay them outright. Would you cheer for your team less under that system?
…..the unbelievable 2018-19 season that brought the Stanley Cup to The Lou for the first time made their car VERY bright and shiny. But under the hood, things could break down in a hurry. As we look ahead however, success on the ice leads to payroll increases for the Blues. This season, GM Doug Armstrong squeaked under the max limit by a scanty $500,000 or so. Next year, the payroll battle will accelerate as several key players on their final year of their contract before becoming unrestricted a free agent. That includes Joel Edmundson, Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Brayden Schenn and Robby Fabri. Some will probably be signed, some released and some traded this year. I will stick my neck out from under the hood and say Bouwmeester and Fabri will likely be traded this year.
…after a tarnishing the shiny, HUGE outside of the car @ Texas….. on Monday, LSU Head Coach rattled the engine of the Texas Longhorns when he said that there was NO air conditioning in the visitors locker room BEFORE or DURING the game @Texas (that includes half time).The Temperature at game time was just under 100 degrees. Coach O had been warned about that locker room condition by Louisiana Tech who had played the previous week @ Texas. Coach O did have his staff bring along several fans but that wasn’t enough. Many LSU Tigers had cramps during the game, especially the 2nd half. To top it off, the Texas fans, presumably not knowing about the torrid locker room temps, were booing repeatedly as the LSU Tigers lay on the ground with cramps. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte released a statement on Monday afternoon. He said, “The comment today about lack of air conditioning in our visiting locker room is the first we’ve heard of any issues in that area. We provide one of the best visitor setups available and are proud of the efforts we put forth in hosting our guests. Our facilities staff did not receive any complaints from either Louisiana Tech or LSU, and we’ve confirmed that our air conditioning in the visiting locker room is in good working order”. That’s the biggest non-denial, denial since Richard Nixon’s days!! Who do you believe?
…Marcel Ozuna is trying to shine up his car and make it presentable for the Cardinals to sign him to another contract. He says that it is “My Priority”. While he’s hopeful…from my view…the Cards have far too many young, cheap (always important) outfielders to keep Ozuna. In fact, I could see the Cards deciding on which 2 or 3 OF that they want to keep (Harrison Bader, Lane Thomas) and trade 1 or 2 OF (Tyler O’Neill. Randy Orozarena, Adolis Garcia –too old, now 26 in minors) of bolster the starting staff for 2020. Wacha won’t be resigned…and not sure of the magic of Wainwright…again
….while the shine of donating to the Red Cross Blood Drive was evident on many collegiate gridirons.. as many lower teams gave blood (the game) for money….for example—Mizzou 50 SEMO (D-II) 0; Tennessee 45 Chattanooga 0; Georgia 55 Ark State (D-II) 0; Notre Dame 66 New Mexico 14; Miami 63 Bethune-Cookman (D-II) 0. ANY WIN over any division II team should NOT count towards the minimum of 6 wins to play in a bowl. Let’s see if it makes sense….beat teams of lower levels of competition so that you may qualify to play one of the top teams of division 1 in a post-season bowl. There is one good point…IF Mizzou insists on playing sub-standard teams on their schedule … and paying them to play. Keep that money in the STATE of Missouri….pay another team from Missouri.
….one school shined up their car for the 1st time in a long, long time. Kansas won a game against a Power 5 program for the first road win in 5 YEARS and a win for the 1st time since 2008 at the stadium of the team beaten by KU (the other game was a bowl game)! The Jayhawks pummeled Boston College4 8-24. Head Coach Les Miles had to be ecstatic. His club had been beaten by Coastal Carolina…not exactly a household name in D-I football…the previous week. Keep shining it up Coach!
….btw….there are far too many bowls…..I wish that there were only 20 bowls ..the top 40 teams. The crowds are miserable for these tiny…not so shiny bowls….its pure & simple…TV money keep those bowls going….ugh! btw….even Nick Saban agrees with me….he thinks that the SEC should play a 10 game conference schedule not just 8 games…which is done to provide many schools to play cupcakes .. gain 3 or 4 wins in the pre season so that they may reach the 6 WIN level plateau to qualify for a bowl game.
….speaking of Alabama, it seems that they’ve ALWAYS been bright and shiny and their engine has always been perfectly timed. Well….look back just a few years…and it actually sputtered, halted and stopped a bit. After Gene Stallings retired in 1996, Mike DuBose was hired. He was the SEC Coach of the Year in 1999 but an overall 24-23 in 4 record and rumors of an affair with the secretary led to his removal. Dennis Franchione went 17-8 in 2 seasons. Mike Price didn’t even last a year. He was hired in Dec, 2002. But in May, 2003, his contract was rescinded after news reports of Price being seen at a strip club while attending a golf tourney in Pensacola, Florida and an unknown charge of $1000 on his hotel bill. MikeShula was next in line, he was 10-2 in his first year and won the Cotton Bowl in 2004. He sank to 6-7 mark the following year and due to violations of NCAA rules, Alabama had to vacate the 16 wins from 2005 and 2006. Nick Saban arrived in 2007. He has shined up that Alabama football car and driven them to a 127-20 record during his time at the wheel. Soooo….short of the story…. every car …even shiny ones…..have troubles under the hood at some point and time.
…well….my ol’ 2009 Malibu needs some shining myself….thx so much for the read! Your comments are always welcome…send to me, publish on Prepcasts, put on Facebook…doesn’t matter.